Drop Out And Get Schooled: The Case for Thinking Twice About College by Patrick Bet-David & Thomas Ellsworth

Author:Patrick Bet-David & Thomas Ellsworth [Bet-David, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Valuetainment Publishing
Published: 2017-02-06T18:30:00+00:00

THE BUSINESS OF COLLEGE

Students or Customers?

There Are Things People Aren’t Talking About

“I turned down a scholarship to Yale. The problem with college is that there's a tendency to mistake preparation for productivity. You can prepare all you want, but if you never roll the dice, you'll never be successful.”

- Shia LaBeouf

“Over 40 percent of full-time four-year college students fail to earn a bachelor’s degree within six years, and many never complete their education.” That dim news was boldly reported in “Working Paper 109” Published by the highly-respected Calder Research Partners. Further, the Calder report went on to say that many students were likely dropouts and should have attended a two-year college (community college) before matriculating to a larger university.

Let’s unpack that bit from the Calder report: colleges are accepting students who they know are going to drop out. While this keeps the tuition revenue machine humming during freshman-sophomore years, the human cost from that point forward is horrifying.

In March of 2016, Fortune Magazine writer Sheila Blair reported on the dropout epidemic and discussed the issue of “student retention.” She also exposed the shameless President of Mount Saint Mary’s College who worried more about the institution’s rankings (and the ability to attract new students) than he did about the fate of currently enrolled students.[vi]

Blair’s article said, “For instance, take the issue of retention. A cold business analysis would support the direct solution Mount St. Mary’s President apparently wanted to pursue – kick them out before they can hurt the schools’ rankings. Someone with an academic orientation might see the retention problem a little differently – a failure of admissions policies to identify students who can succeed and/or insufficient support services for students once admitted.”

Blair summed it up perfectly. In Chapter 1 I noted that pressure to attend college comes, in part, from the educational industry itself. Do you see any difference between the President of Mount Saint Mary’s College and the General Motors CEO who was hauled off to testify at a congressional hearing because GM allegedly did nothing to protect consumers who were buying GM cars with faulty ignition switches? To me, there’s no difference. GM and Mount Saint Mary’s took the customer’s money and did little to nothing to protect them.

If you look at rising costs, the indictment grows longer. Over the 10 years starting in 2005 and ending in 2014 statistics clearly show the same number of students is enrolled in college over that time but today’s the costs have risen tremendously:

College Enrollment 0 percent growth (unchanged)

Tuition: Up 54 percent

Student Debt: Up 157 percent

(Source: Federal Reserve Board; National Center for Education Statistics)

Is it any wonder financial stress and academic performance are the two overwhelming reasons why students drop out?

Some of this was further reiterated by CNBC - John Schoen did a great job in the segment "Why college costs are so high and rising."

A 45-year-old person is in the prime of their career. By that time, people have amassed high-level expertise at whatever they do. Still, a lot has changed since our 45-year old example was born in 1971.

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